Pregnancy

Pregnancy is such a complicated phenomenon. Obviously it's wonderful and a true blessing, but it's also so HARD. Even though I'd consider both of my pregnancies as easy, they have still taken so much out of me, physically and emotionally. Now that I'm coming to the end of what will most likely be my last pregnancy, I'm having a tough time knowing that this is the last time I'll feel life growing inside of me. Don't get me wrong, I don't want more children. I will be as happy as a clam with the two that I've been given. But there is a part of me (that I'm shocked to find out exists) that apparently loves being pregnant and is mourning the loss of that experience. I realize that this may sound selfish and awful. So many people, including some very dear to me, have had continued struggles getting or staying pregnant. Yet here I am complaining about choosing not to do so again. But I can't help it. And ignoring these feelings won't make them go away.

So instead of ignoring my feelings regarding pregnancy, I have decided to embrace them. I am trying to enjoy each little kick, each punch to the ribs, each bout of in-utero hiccups. And instead of hiding my growing self away, I decided that I wanted to have some photos taken to capture this special time in my family's life. I was hesitant to do so, but now that I've done it, I'm so very glad that I did. I want this baby inside me to grow up and see how happy his family was in anticipation of his arrival, and for Jack to remember the time when there were just three of us and how he was so excited for his baby brother to join us.

 

Summer 2012

 

Making bubbles at the Hope Valley Memorial Day Parade.

What have we been doing this summer? Not blogging, clearly. But we have been having a lot of fun, and I have some photos to prove it. I hope to get some posts up here with funny Jack stories before I completely lose my mind to pregnancy brain, but for now, here are some pics of our summer so far. Enjoy!




Painting a Father's Day card for Daddy.

Huck Finn Day 2012

My handsome Hucks!

Jack LOVES these Eric Carle flashcards from Auntie Amy & Uncle Andy. He knows more random animals than his mommy by now (narwhal, anyone?)!

Jack helps Daddy paint his "new room".

Hello Peoples! 4th of July on the lake.

Playing in the pond with cousins.



Jack meets Lucia for the first time. "Hello Baby!"

Instant friends, just like their parents!



Cruisin'



 

All 3 looking at the camera at the same time?!

 

Spraying mommy with the hose - AGAIN!

Jack's 1st baseball game - Connecticut Tigers!

Jack was NOT a fan of the Tiger or Alligator.



Smokey the Bear Parade in Watch Hill

Finally, a character Jack likes..."Smokey Bear so nice!"

 

Summer in the Park

The town in which Marc grew up is home to an amazing public park. The park itself was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, who also designed New York's Central Park and who this nerd knows from the book Devil in a White City. (Shout out to Detroit - he also designed Belle Isle Park!) My point being, this cat has designed some really cool public spaces, and we are fortunate to have one nearby that hosts a ton of free events.




Marc's winning balloon chain.

 

The first event that we attended this summer was the annual plant sale. I was able to pick up some locally grown herbs for my little patio herb garden, and Jack was able to plant his first garden! There was a really cute set-up in the bandstand for the kiddos, where they got to choose from a bunch of little plants, rocks and clay critters to create their own little garden.

On a Sunday in June, the park held a children's concert. The band was pretty impressive, considering the average age of its members must have been at least 72. The event itself was totally adorable. Kids of all ages brought their teddy bears or other favorite stuffed animal to the park, and the band played a bunch of kid-friendly songs. They brought out a person dressed as Kung-Fu Panda during "Kung-Fu Fighting", and Jack talked about the "big panda" for weeks.




Jack brought More Bear (in his lap) and Bear (in foreground) to the concert :)



Jack made a new friend at the concert, and offered to share More Bear with him.

My favorite summer event in the park is the Summer Pops Concert. Every year I am amazed by the quality of the performance, and by the amount of people who attend. There is a contest each year where the family with the longest balloon chain wins a prize: 2 tickets to a Chorus of Westerly performance. Obviously, Marc has wanted to participate (and win) this contest since he was a kid, so now that he has his own family, he did just that with the help of some friends and some donations from kind strangers. The boys loved seeing our balloon chain go up and up and up into the sky!




Enjoying time with friends and family at the Summer Pops.





Cousinly love!

I don't know of any more organized events at the park this summer, but you'd better believe we'll be there if they exist! And if not, we'll still be at the park visiting the ducks in the pond or just enjoying a stroll through the lovely grounds. When did my life become so stinking pastoral? I don't know, but it's working for me!

Michigan-i-o

In the beginning of May, Jack and I had the opportunity to visit "Mamie" and "Bobby" (don't ask where that one came from) in Michigan. Marc was in Vegas for the weekend, and I was about to enter my 3rd trimester of pregnancy so it was perfect timing. It was a short trip for Jack and I, but we made the most of it and had a great time. We were able to spend lots of quality time with Jack's Michigan family, and I was able to catch up with a couple friends and meet Sarah's little baby Claire, who is cute as a button!



Sadly, my camera battery died just when I went to take a photo of Claire. Here's a bonus Jack in MI pic instead.

One day was spent, what else, visiting livestock. Hess Hathaway Park (near where my BFF Amy and I went to FARM CAMP as kids...if you know either of us, this is still a baffling concept after 25 years) has a playground and a barn with tons of animals. All of Jack's favorites were there...piggies, turkeys, chickens, bunnies, kitty cats, goats, sheep (although Jack has a bit of a sheep phobia after Marc took him to a farm with a "noisy" sheep - "BAAA!"), ducks, donkeys, and peacocks. It was Jack's first time seeing a peacock with all of his feathers on display and he was pretty impressed. "Peacock" became his favorite word to say in Michigan. We heard that there was an alpaca show nearby, so we figured why not go see more livestock, and went to meet some fuzzy new friends. I'm not sure if Jack was that into the alpacas, but I still think they are adorable and totally want one. If I only had an extra $15,000 to spend on one...



Can you find the peacock? It was a sad seeing him in that fence, but Jack still thought he was so cool.

We spent one morning at one of my absolute favorite Michigan destinations, Greenfield Village. If you've never been there, I can't even explain it, but if you have been, you know that it's totally magical. Thomas the Train happened to be in town concurrent with our trip, so Mamie, Grandpa, Jack, and I booked tickets and went for a ride. It was so cool to see Greenfield Village from the train, and although Jack isn't yet aware of who Thomas is, he totally loved riding the train with the friendly blue face. After our train ride, we spent some time wandering around the village. We saw so much, but there is still a ton we didn't see. I'll definitely be bringing Jack back for lots of trips to Greenfield Village!



Jack waved and yelled "Hi, People!" when the train came by.





Getting ready to ride Thomas!

Jack's 1st Carousel Ride



Even Greenfield Village has farm animals, the theme of this trip.

The rest of our trip might not have been as eventful as the farm day and Greenfield Village, but we had a great time the entire time we were there. It was great to see "Great-Mamie", who was in amazing spirits despite her broken arm. Jack enjoyed visiting her at the nursing home where she's rehabbing...he got a treat every time we went ("ap-ple juice" and crackers) and was able to take rides on Great-Mamie's "motorcycle", which applies to both her walker and her wheelchair. Jack also enjoyed helping Grandpa move rocks in his little wheelbarrow, and helped Mamie in the garden where he found lots of "wohms". Yes, I am afraid that it's a New England accent in the making...

April 2012: No Job's Too Big, No Job's Too Small

While looking back on the photos that I took over the month of April, what really struck me is how much Jack loves to emulate his daddy. Sure, he does this with me, but not quite as often and definitely not when a camera is around (I'm clearly the photographer when it comes to capturing our family moments). Jack really does adore Marc, and Marc adores him right back. I'm so fortunate to have a father for my son(s) who has the patience to let an eager toddler tag along and who teaches him about life along the way. This is so silly, but after I put these photos together, I kept singing the jingle from this cheesy 1980s Detroit-area commercial for a home remodeling company: No job's too big/No job's too small/We're Father and Son/We do it all! After viewing these photos, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if these two opened up their own remodeling or landscaping business one day. I guess it shouldn't come as a surprise that Jack's favorite words from April are tractor, lawnmower, weed-whacker, backhoe, bulldozer, dump truck, and cement truck!

Happy Easter 2012!

Easter is so much more fun when there’s a toddler around! We had a great day with family on Easter, and fun times in the days leading up to the big day. Marc, Jack & I colored eggs, which I hadn’t done in a million years. Jack had a ball dipping the eggs in the different colors and kept asking for more after we’d dyed them all. Jack also got to experience his fair share of Easter egg hunts this year. His babysitter took him to a really cool egg hunt at the Mystic Nature Center, where he searched for eggs along the nature trails. Of all the 1,000 eggs to be found, Jack found the one with the owl etching, which meant that he won a special prize – a totally adorable raccoon finger puppet! On the Saturday before Easter, Jack met his cousins for the community egg hunt. There had a be a million kids there (slight exaggeration – slight), but fortunately they were separated by age, so Jack and Kasey were able to hunt for the eggs together. All 3 boys had fun, but holy cow, was it a quick affair!

Egg Hunt #1 at the Mystic Nature Center

On actual Easter Sunday, Jack was more than ready for the bunny! He found his baskets right away and was SO excited over every little treat from the Easter Bunny. He really loved his watering can (just like mommy & daddy’s!), his matchbox construction vehicles and his vacuum. He is completely obsessed with vacuum cleaners, and now he finally has one of his own. He spent the entire morning vacuuming away until it was time to go to Grammy & Grandpa’s for breakfast. We had a really wonderful morning with ALL of Grammy Judy’s family, rarely is everyone in town so this was extra special. We then went to GG & OG’s (“Old Grandpa”) house for Easter dinner and had a fun time with Grandpa Bob’s side of the family. GG always outdoes herself at Easter, with egg hunts for the great-grandchildren, and contests and gifts for all (not to mention tons of food!).

"THE VACUUM"

Just the 3 1/2 of Us

Clearly, Jack has the coolest cousins EVER.



Egg Hunt at GG's

Found it!

In other non-Easter events that took place on Easter Sunday…Jack climbed out of his crib for the first time. I knew it was coming soon, but just didn’t realize HOW soon. And also in growing up too fast news, Jack is really, really excited for potty-training and absolutely loves to sit on the potty and try to poop. Too much information? Sorry, but this is my life these days. I love watching Jack grow, both physically and developmentally, but it can also be bittersweet. In anticipation of Easter gifts, I had to pack away some of his old toys, including Sophie the Giraffe this weekend. Thank goodness I was home alone at the time, because the tears were falling when I packed away Jack’s first friend. In fact, they are falling right now…curse you, pregnancy hormones!

It's Potty Time!!